Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/262



232 UP THE PAUANA UIVER TO ROZARIO.

and extends deep into the Pampas^ always following, I believe, the watercourses; and we shall find it high up on the Parana and the Paraguay.

The channel winds wonderfully, to the east, to the south, and to the north-west. Rival channels abound, and we often see far beyond the monte-bush, to our right and left, ships'* sails passing up over land like the sailing waggons of the Seres. When the waters are out, temporary cross-cuts, as on the great Rio de Sao Francisco, enable boats to cruise across country. The riverine edges wax higher as we advance, and whilst one side grows grass the other becomes tree-clad ; higher up, this formation will assume larger and more distinct proportions.

From this lower bed the larger animals, so common up stream, have of late been frightened away ; the fish to breed in the tributaries and the less disturbed parts ; and little life save aerial remains. At rare times a bullet head pro- truded from the water and at once withdrawn denotes the " Nutria,-'-' indifferently described as an otter, a seal, or a sea-wolf. The shag, plotus, or divsr, is of two kinds, one dingy brown, the other black with white-tipped wings and a plume that commends itself to what wears bonnets. They gaze at us with extended necks and ^'^boV down stream, in remarkable contrast with the hunchbacked, motionless Mirasol or white crane, standing one-legged and meditative on the bank, and with the Socoboi, the large ash-coloured heron, roaring like a bull because we dare to disturb him. Ducks are rare, and yet August is the height of the shooting season. Wild pigeons are common before this month ; the Paloma torcaza (properly torquaz or torquated) is large as a blue rock, and the toroassita equals the ringdove. There are swallows, red orioles (sangre de boi) ; " Calandrias-'^ or singing thrushes, the Sabias of the Brazil ; black thrushes ; pajaritos de las animas, and two red-crested " Cardinals,"-'